Programmable use of data extracted from common presentation files

• US 20040019590A1
• Filed: 07/25/2002
• Published: 01/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated (Kyndryl Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hladik, William J. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 7,089,261 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/955 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A system and method of retrieving a target set of data from a presentation file. The system comprises: an extractor that extracts data elements from the presentation file, associates a unique identifier to each data element, and stores each data element and associated identifier in an extraction object; and a formatter that selects the target set of the data from the extraction object based on a set of references in a target object. Each reference conforms to a predefined set of rules that allow, for instance, data elements to be addressed by page, object, row and column.

Claims

1. A system for retrieving a target set of data from a presentation file, comprising:

an extractor that extracts data elements from the presentation file, associates a unique identifier to each data element, and stores each data element and associated identifier in an extraction object; and

a formatter that selects the target set of the data from the extraction object based on a set of references in a target object.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the formatter matches each reference in the target object to an identifier in the extraction object using a predetermined set of rules.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein each identifier identifies a page in the presentation file.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein each identifier further identifies a data object on the page.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein each identifier further identifies a row of data in the data object.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein each identifier further identifies a column of data in the data object.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the identifier comprises a series of numbers to identify the page, data object, row and column.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein each reference can refer to any of the page, data object, row and column using a text string.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein each reference can refer any of the page, data object, row and column based on a relative position.

10. The system of claim 2, wherein the reference can instruct the formatter to perform a mathematical operation on an identified set of data in the presentation file.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the target object is generated in conformance with a set of descriptor rules.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the descriptor rules includes a mechanism for performing a mathematical calculation on data elements in the extraction object.

13. A method of generating a target set of data from a presentation file, comprising:

extracting a plurality of data elements from the presentation file;

associating a unique identifier to each data element;

storing each data element and associated identifier in an extraction object;

storing references in a target object that refer to targeted data elements;

matching the references in the target object with data elements in the extraction object; and

outputting the matched data elements.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein each unique identifier identifies a page, a data object, a row, and a column.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein each reference conforms to a predetermined set of rules.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the predetermined set of rules allows a reference to refer to a data element with a page number, object number, row number and column number.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the predetermined set of rules allows a reference to comprise an addressing mechanism selected from the group consisting of:

a page title, an object title, a row title, a column title, and a positional equivalent.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the predetermined set of rules allows a reference to comprise a mathematical operator.

19. A program product stored on a recordable medium for generating a targeted set of data from a presentation file, comprising:

means for extracting a plurality of data elements from the presentation file, associating a unique identifier to each data element, and storing each data element and associated identifier in an extraction object;

means for storing references in a target object, wherein each reference refers to a targeted data element;

means for matching the references in the target object with data elements in the extraction object; and

means for outputting the matched data elements in a predetermined format.

20. The program product of claim 19, wherein the each unique identifier identifies a page, a data object, a row, and a column.

21. The program product of claim 19, wherein each reference conforms to a predetermined set of rules.

22. The program product of claim 21, wherein the predetermined set of rules allows a reference to refer to a data element with a page number, object number, row number and column number.

23. The program product of claim 21, wherein the predetermined set of rules allows a reference to comprise an addressing mechanism selected from the group consisting of:

a page title, an object title, a row title, a column title, and a positional equivalent.

24. The program product of claim 21, wherein the predetermined set of rules allows a reference to comprise a mathematical operator.